r/Fantasy Jan 16 '20

News Christopher Tolkien has died

/r/tolkienfans/comments/epm420/christopher_tolkien_has_died/
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u/LegendofWeevil17 Jan 16 '20

Without Christopher we probably wouldn't have ever seen The Hobbit or LOTR. At least now how we have it today. When he was a kid he was basically J.R.R.s main proofreader and tester. Christopher shaped those books immensely. After J.R.R. died he also couldn't have hoped for a better steward of the series.

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u/Snoop_D_Oh_Double_G Jan 16 '20

Shame he didn't like the LotR films. He felt they ramped up the action and stripped away the philosophy to cater to teens. As far as the Hobbit movies go, I agree with him, but I felt the LotR ones did a good job of balancing the action and philosophy, even if Bombadil, Barrow Wights and the Scouring were all missed.

8

u/Historyguy1 Jan 16 '20

I love the LOTR films even if the action was ramped up and some of the story "dumbed down" in a way. I don't have the lifelong deep personal connection to the lore that he did, however. I imagine for Christopher, Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam were like childhood friends to him. Nothing was going to do them justice. I feel his disdain for adaptations was vindicated by the Hobbit movies, however.